Will he or won't he? Nigel Farage has just five more days to pull the trigger on an extraordinary political revolution.
It's my view that for the sake of our democracy, and whether you love or loathe the guy, that he's got to run for a seat in the House of Commons.
It's a damning verdict on our electoral system that arguably the most consequential politician of his generation, the man without whom Brexit would simply not have happened, has never sat on those famous green benches.
Think of the nobodies who have achieved precisely zero, and who have spent decades in the place gorging themselves on state subsidised parliamentary lasagna and jerk chicken getting ripped to the backside on House of Commons white wine.
Mark Dolan shares his thoughts on Nigel Farage not standing for Reform UK in the election
GB News
Many people, potentially half of the country, cannot stand Nigel Farage. They consider him a dangerous and divisive figure who has done untold damage to this country. They are entitled to their view.
But Farage's great crime from where I'm standing is that he simply says what millions of people think. That ought to be your ticket to high office. But in these censorious times, it's enough to get you cancelled.
Nigel may be right about things. He may be wrong about things. Probably both. But this high profile figure deserves a voice in our elected chamber. Our next parliament needs to have more diverse voices, not fewer.
Which is why I think it's important that Diane Abbott, icon of the left, reenters the Commons, too. And of course, we've just broken the news that she will be running in her seat in Hackney for Labour.
This election, smaller parties may come to the fore. The Greens are enjoying growing support. The Lib Dems may bounce back to their coalition glory days. Reform UK are hoping to make inroads and we may have more disruptive independents as well. Bring it on.
The duopoly of power which Labour and the conservatives have enjoyed for decades, which some call the Uni party, risks being seen as disconnected from the electorate that it represents. Many would argue it works. Others would argue it does not.
But the truth is that I don't know anyone that's giddy with excitement about voting for any of the parties currently on offer, and that is a problem.
But the likes of Farage and his counterparts on the political left should be in the House of Commons, making the case for real change in the country and doing what we try to do here at GB News, which is to widen the debate and to tackle previously untouched issues and to provide ordinary people with a voice.
And it's working right here on this show. Yesterday evening, Mark Dolan tonight was the head of Sky News with an audience peak of 122,000 people. And it's growing. There's an audience out there for a wider debate and an electorate out there who would dearly love to feel that the House of Commons speaks for them.
It's not too much to ask, is it? The clue is in the title. Britain is a representative democracy, so it would be great if the politicians did a bit of representing.
Charismatic figures from across the political spectrum should be in the House of Commons indulging in a battle of ideas and vocalising the thoughts, hopes and dreams of voters that have sent them there.
All too often, the House of Commons feels like a private member's club populated by career politicians, lickspittle, brown noses, policy wonks, party insiders, sycophants and bag carriers with precious little experience of the real world.
Nigel Farage has said that there's no time to set up a campaign. He doesn't have to. One tweet will do it. I'm back and the whole country will know that he's running. You don't need all the leaflets. Save a few hundred trees. The message will be clear.
The man of the people will seek to represent the people. Plus, once he's in the House of Commons, he is sitting pretty to take over the leadership of the Tories, should they be annihilated, and he could bring them back from the ashes after the election.
Farage has five days left to spark another political revolution like Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final last night. If you don't take your chances, you will be punished. Look at Nigel's impact in the European Parliament as he raged at smug MEPs for over two decades.
Who wouldn't like a bit of that in the House of Commons? Not just on the right with Nigel, but on the left in the middle, the Greens, you name it. Let's have a bit of diversity of opinion rather than career politicians. So Nigel famously appeared on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, but it's time now for him to enter the political jungle. And while he's in there, he might even drain the swamp.
